Support for sliding members in knitting machines



G. H. GREEN Aug. 2, v1932.

SUPPORT FOR SLIDING MEMBERS IN KNITTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug. lI. 1931 Aug. 2, 1932. GREEN 1,869,416

ORT FOR SLIDING MEMBERS IN KNITTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SUPP Filed Aug. 11. 1931 I Patented Aug. 2, 1932 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUPPORT FOR SLIDING MEMBERS IN KNTT'IING MACHINES Applicationv filed August 11, 1931, Serial No. 556,451, and in Great Britain August 15, 1930.

This invention comprises improvements in or relating to supports for sliding members in knitting machines and has particular reference to a support of the type wherein a needle, sinker, jack or other sliding com onent of a knitting machine is guided etween blade or strip members spaced apart and secured, preferably, removably, upon a main supporting bed or foundation member.

The invention in particularly, although not exclusively, applicable to a needle support or carrier of the above type for use in a fine gauge circular knitting machine.

As is well known, the chief reason for adopting a needle support of the above type is the difficulty experienced in cutting the requisite number of needle tricks or guiding grooves in the solid wall of the needle cylinder. Such cutting operation is of a particuj larly delicate nature and frequent breakages of the cylinder and cutting tools are in practice unavoidable, whilst furthermore the walls of the cut tricks frequently become distorted when the cylinder is hardened subsequent to the cutting operation. In addition, when a fine gauge cut-trick cylinder is in use, one or more of the trick walls may easily be broken and the whole cylinder is then rendered useless, whereas, with a cylinder having inserted needle guides, in the event of one of the said guides being broken, it may readily be replaced. 7

In a needle cylinder having inserted needle guides it is customary to insert'the guides-in grooves, which may be of a less depth than those required to support a needle, cut lon-' gitudinally in the cylinder, the said inserted guides being removably secured in position by virtue of inclined edges, usually provided at the upper and lower parts ofthe said guides, engaging with inclined recesses cut around the cylinder and provided on one or more cap members screwed or otherwise removably secured on the said cylinder.

It will be appreciatedthat it is very de- -wear on the said sirable, if not essential, that the sides of each needle guide should be parallel with a radial plane of the needle cylinder ex-' tending centrally through the guiding groove for the needle, and considerable difficulty has hitherto been experienced in obtaining this result, since to do so each guide must gradually taper or increase in thickness to a very small extent towards its outer longitudinal edge, i. e., the part furthest removed 1 from the cylinder when the guide is in position thereon. With a view to satisfying these conditions, one type of inserted guide hitherto employed has been provided with, a diverging or inclined longitudinal outer portion, such portion being formed on the said guide by a grinding or rolling operation.

These guides were inserted in longitudinal grooves out in the circumference of the needle cylinder at an angle to the radius. This arrangement has also proved unsatisfactory however owing to the extreme difliculty hitherto-experienced in manufacturing quantities of the guides with inclined side faces having the line degree of accuracy essential,

and the difiiculty of cutting the non-radial grooves in the needle cylinder. In fact, such have been the difficulties met, that many manufacturers are reverting to the old and expensive method of cutting the fine tricks in the solid cylinder wall in spite of the attendant disadvantages.

It is the object of the present invention to overcome the before-mentioned disadvantages and facilitate the manufacture of cylinders with inserted needle guides, and at the same time provide means for reducing the guides and the needles engaging therewith.

.According to the present invention a needle, sinker, jack or other sliding component of a knitting machine is guided between a'pair of strip members, spaced apart, and at least one of which is provided with an incontinuous guiding surface. The said incontinuous surface may be provided by corrugations extending transversely of each blade or strip member. In lieu of or in combination with said transverse corrugations longitudinal corrugations may be formed in the guide strip to constitute true parallel guiding surfaces and/or serve to stiffen or strengthen the guide. The said corrugations may be provided along the whole or a part only of the length of the guide.

According to one embodiment of this invention, each of the removable needle guides for a needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine is provided on each of its side faces with transversely extending corrugations which gradually increase in height towardsthe outer edge of the guide, i. e. the edge furthest removed from the needle cylinder when the said guide is in position thereon.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a cross-sectional elevation of a needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine fitted with removable needle guides conforming to the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates in enlarged side and end. elevation a preferred form of needle guide according to this invention.

Figure 3 is a magnified fragmental sectionalplan on line AA of Figurel.

Figure 4 illustrates in side and end elevation a modified form of guide.

Figure 5 is another magnified sectional plan through a part of a needle cylinder anda pair of needle guidesof the type illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmental plan View illustratim the invention appliedto an inserted guide for a needle supporting dial.

Fi ure 7 is a sectional elevation on line B of Figure 6 with a needle in position on the support.

Figure 8 is a fragmental side elevation illustrating dies and positioning means by means of which needle guides according to this invention are produced by a stamping process, and

Figure 9 is an end elevation of the said dies and positioning means.

In one particular method of carrying out this invention as applied to a removable needle guide for a cylinder of a fine gaugev circular knitting machine, the said guide.

comprises a blade or strip member 1 of the shape shewn in Figure 2, conveniently stamped out of sheet steel, which may, for example, be of nineteen thousandths of an inch in the thickness. For approximately half'its width each guide member is plain,

i. e. has smooth parallel side surfaces and:

does not vary in thickness. This plain part,

indicated at 1a, is adapted to be ZLCCOIIHIH).

dated in a parallel longitudinal groove 2,

(the sides of which are equidistant from a radial plane centrally of said groove) provided in the outer wall of the needle cylinder 3.

That part of each guide which projects from the cylinder and guides the needle has formed in it transversely extending corrugations 1?). Each of these corrugations 1?) may, for example, be approximately one sixteenth of an inch in width, and at that longitudinal edge 16 of the inserted guide which stands out from the cylinder, the corrugations on each of the side faces of the guide may be three thousandths of an inch high, the said corrugations being gradually reduced in; height until they disappear into the aforementioned plain section 1a of the guide at a position substantially central in the width thereof.

As a consequence of the corrugations, the particular example of guide referred to above is nineteen thousandths of an inch thick at the parts 1a that are inserted intothe groove 2 in the cylinder and then gradually increases inits effective thickness, measured over the corrugations, until; at its outer edge 16 it measurestwenty-two thousandths of an inch. Thusthe normal radiation of the side faces of theguide, when inposition on the cylinder, is neutralized by the provision of the inclined corrugations 1b and perfectly parallel guiding surfaces for the needles are provided.

Guides of the particular dimensions given above, are suitable for insertion in a cylinder of three and a half inches diameter to support three hundred needles thereon. It will, however, be understood that the above dimensions are given byway of example only and will bevaried to suit cylinders of different sizes and gauges as required.

If desired, the inclined corrugations 16 may be provided only along that part of each guide which is adapted to support the customary butt or projection N on the needle N, by means of which the said needle is slidably displaced by the customary cams or other devices, and in some cases only one of the corrugated needle guiding side surfaces of the guide may be inclined, the other remaining substantially parallel with the general plane of the guide. It is preferable, however, to provide the corrugations along the greater part of the length of each guide and on bothfaces thereofas previously described and illustrated.

It will be appreciated that the improved guides are considerably-stronger across their corrugated sections than the removable guides of plain section as hitherto employed, and the said guides may be further strengtlr ened or stiffened by the provision of longitudinal corrugations in any desired combination with: the transverse corrugations. Such a guideis illustrated in Figures 4: and5,

wherein a pair of longitudinal corrugations 1c are provided between each pair oftransverse corrugations lb and it will be noted from Figure 5 that the heights of the longitudinal corrugations lc increase towards the outer parts of the guide, thus preserving the true parallel side guiding surfaces of the guide. The transverse corrugations 1?) on this modified guide, of course, vary in height as previously described.

If desired a guide may be provided with longitudinal corrugations 10 only, which may extend down the whole or any desired part of the length of the guide to serve the purpose of strengthening the guide and constitute true parallel guiding surfaces for the needle.

It is also a considerable advantage of the improved corrugated guides that they reduce the friction and wear upon the sliding needles to a minimum.

Any convenient means may be employed for removably securing the guides in the slots 2 in the needle cylinder. In the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1, inclined edges 1d provided at the extremities of the guide are engaged by an undercut recess 3a formed around the upper part of the needle cylinder 3 and an inclined recess 1a provided around the upper surface of a ring member 4 removably secured to the lower part of the needle cylinder by screws 5.

The improved needle guides may also be inserted in a needle bar of a fine gauge fiat or straight-bar knitting machine, in which case each corrugation in each guide is of uniform depth throughout to provide par allel anti-frictional needle guiding surfaces.

The invention may also be applied to an insertable guide for a needle dial, and such a guide is illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, In this guide anti-frictional needle guiding sur faces which are parallel with a radial plane of the dial centrally of the needle guiding groove, are provided by the corrugations 16 which corrugations are comparatively deep at the outer parts of the inserted guide furthest removed from. the centre of the dial, and are gradually reduced in depth as they approach the said centre of the dial. In this modification each corrugation extends vertically and is of uniform depth throughout.

It will be apparent that improved antifrictional guides as above described and illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 may be readily applied to a dial for supporting sinkers, jacks, or other loop forming or transferring elements of a knitting machine. 7

The improved insertable guide lends itself to particularly simple and inexpensive manufacture: The plain flat guide blank of the required shape is first pressed from sheet steel, which may be previously hardened if desired. The corrugated guiding surfaces 16 may then be provided on the blank by a cold stamping operation during which the said blank is positioned between a pair of press tools 6 and 7, see Figures 7 and 8, secured in a press 8, the said tools being formed on each of their opposed pressing faces with grooves 9 and teeth-like prominences 10 which conform to the shape and size of the corrugations 1b to be stamped on the guide blank. The said tools are positioned in the press so that the grooves 9 of the one tool are opposite the prominences 10 of the other, and. to provide the inclined corrugations 1?),

the opposed faces 10a of the prominences 1O on the press tools are slightly inclined from the horizontal plane, each of the said prominences being deeper at its one extremity than the-other. The guide blank is held in position near an adjustably suitably guided stop block 11, preferably by a light spring, not shewn, and the said block and guide blank may be moved towards or away from the press tools by means of a screw 12.

The lower press tool is fixed to a stationary bed of the press and the upper press tool has a sharp vertical stamping movement imparted to it by the usual means provided in the press for this purpose. The stamping movement of the upper press tool does not vary but the length and depth of the inclined corrugations 1b, which are stamped in the blank 1, may be varied by moving the blank towards and away from the press tools, in the direction of the prominences 10 on the said tools, by means of the adjustable stop block 11.

In the production of a guide as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 for use in a needle or sinker supporting dial, press tools are used which have prominences 10 which vary in height from one extremity of the tool to the other, although each prominence is of uniform height throughout.

The opposed pressing faces of the prominences on the press tools are preferably flat to provide flat corrugated or stepped guiding surfaces on the improved wall, but may be rounded to provide corrugations of the round form if so desired.

I claim Y 1. In a cylindrical support for sliding components of a knitting machine, guides for the said components which guides are provided with incontinuous guiding surfaces extending axially of the said support, the said surfaces being formed by laterally projecting parts of varying heights arranged to neutralize the normal radiation of the side surfaces of the said guides and provide guiding surfaces which are each parallel with a radial plane of the said support extending centrally through one of the guiding grooves for the said components.

2. Guides for a cylindrical support as characterized in claim 1, wherein transverse corrugations are provided along each of the said ides, each of said corrugations increasing in height towards the outer parts of the guide.

3. Guides for a cylindrical support as characterized in claim 1, wherein longitudinal corrugations are provided along each of the said guides, those of the said corrugations which are provided near the outer parts of the guide being higher than those provided near the inner parts of the said guide.

4. In a disc support for sliding components of a knitting machine, removable guides provided with corrugations of varying heights arranged to constitute incontinuous guiding surfaces for the said components each of which surfaces is parallel with a radial plane of the said support extending centrally through one of the guiding grooves for the said component.

5. In a support for a sliding component of a knitting machine, a guide having an incontinuous guiding surface formed by flat crested corrugations in the said guide.

6. In a support for a sliding component of a knitting machine, a guide having a discontinuous guiding surface constituted by the crests of corrugations in the guide.

7. For use in a knitting machine, a trick blade having a discontinuous wearing surface formed by the crests of embossed portions of the guide.

8. For use in a knitting machine a trick blade which tapers in effective thickness, provided with corrugations of progressively decreasing height.

9. In a support for a sliding component of a knitting machine, guides each comprising a thin metal strip whereof the wearing and guiding surfaces are constituted by the crests of a number of raised. portions of each guide.

10. For a support for a sliding component of a knitting machine, sheet-metal guides having embossed flanks.

11. In a cylindrical support for sliding components of a knitting machine, spaced guides extending axially of the support and adapted to accommodate the sliding components in the spaces between them, said guides having wearing surfaces constituted by the crests of raised portions on the sides thereof, which said raised portions increase progressively in depth with increasing radius from the center of the support.

12. In a disc support for sliding compo nents of a knitting machine, having radially disposed guides forming tricks in which the components slide, raised portions on the sides of theguides which portions increase progressively in depth outwards from the center of the support whereby the width of the tricks is maintained constant.

13. In a support for a sliding component of-a knitting machine, a guide having a number of embossed portions the crests whereof constitute the wearing surface.

14;. In a support for a sliding component of a knitting machine, a guide having a discontinuous wearing surface constituted by the crests of a plurality of corrugations, all of said crests lying in one and the same plane.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification.

Dated this th day of July, 1981.

GEORGE .HENRY GREEN. 

